The kât'a

Native Name:kâtʹa. The population of the řâmgʹal and
kulʹem Valleys in western Nuristân were sufficiently propagandized at the time of their
conversion to Islâm to renounce their native name as synonymous with "infidel." They now prefer simply
to be called "Nuristâni."

Linguistic Position of Kâtʹa-vari: Kâtʹa-vari is a dialect of Kâmkʹata-vari, which forms with
Vâsʹi-vari the Northern Group of Nuristâni languages (see the Table of Languages). Within kâtʹa-vari there is a division between Western
kâtʹa-vari, spoken in ktʹivi and řâmgʹal, and Eastern kâtʹa-vari, spoken in the
Lanḍai Sin Valley (except in the village of pʹeřuk, where they speak the řâmgʹal dialect).
The dialects of ktʹivi and řâmgʹal are separated by minor differences. Being somewhat
isolated, speakers on the Pakistan side of the boundary diverge slightly from
the dialectal norms of their more numerous cousins in Afghanistan.

Fârsi (Persian) from the neighboring Panjshir Valley has displaced kâtʹa-vari in
the villages of kivʹiṣṭ, basʹaidar, âćʹagar, and gulnʹaṣo in
řâmgʹal.

History: The Kâta were apparently the core group of early Nuristâni refugees from the
Ghaznavid depopulation of Kâmâ. Following the Pech River, they settled the area around
ktʹivi (Kântiwâ) in central Nuristân. From there they spread out to
occupy the upper Lanḍai Sin basin in the east and the valleys of řâmgʹal and
kulʹem in the upper Alingar basin in the west.